The influence of international emissions, which arise from Mexico and Asia, causes about 6 to 7% of the ozone in the NWF, per multiple local studies. Moreover, the phenomenon of Asian emissions traveling to the intermountain west has been well-documented in peer-reviewed scientific studies. Fortunately, the Clean Air Act has Section 179B that allows states to show that the area would have attained the standard but for the influence of international emissions. Utah developed a 179B demonstration, submitted just days after EPA issued the final reclassification rule, and EPA did not consider it in the rulemaking even though they had a final draft version in hand and had provided feedback to Utah on an earlier version. Governor Cox also requested that the nonattainment area be expanded to include more of Tooele County and a large emissions source within the expanded boundary. When EPA issued the rulemaking to reclassify the area to Serious, the statutory deadline to act on the boundary adjustment had passed by a few months earlier, but EPA ignored this request too. EPA also did not provide the required public comment period, using faulty reasoning for why it was not necessary. Utah and UPA filed petitions for reconsideration with EPA, which EPA recently granted. This is a major positive step for the NWF. Utah and UPA also engaged the court and filed motions with the court to stay the rulemaking and hold the court case in abeyance while EPA completes the reconsideration. The court granted abeyance except for ruling on the stay. Recently, the court granted the stay of the rulemaking, holding the NWF at moderate nonattainment while EPA completes the reconsideration. EPA also recently withdrew its problematic guidance for states to demonstrate the effect of international emissions. The guidance included criteria that went far beyond the simple plain language of the federal Clean Air Act. Also in December, EPA completed a rulemaking that denied the request by Utah and the Ute Tribe to grant a second extension for the Uinta Basin to attain the EPA air quality standard for ozone. The Basin would have attained the standard if EPA had approved the second Figure 2. Source Contributions to NWF Ozone and Source Sectors for Man-Made VOC and NOx Emissions in the NWF Source Contributions to NWF Ozone, Bountiful Monitor, Exceedance Day Average (modeled) Source Sectors for Man-Made Emissions (VOC + NOx), Counties Included in the NWF 12 UPDATE
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